A media chronology: 'Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.' - Article 6 of the Fundamental Principles of Olympism.

From Amoeba to Icon; where do you currently rank in your industry's natural progression? In this piece, I walk you through the seven stages of development as you strive to position yourself as an industry expert. [video]

Marketers around the world are expected to start tapping into the power of location-based services (LBS) over the course of the next year as a means of delivering more targeted and engaging advertising to consumers.

As we all know, when individuals achieve some degree of celebrity status, they become brands in their own right, just like any other brand. The question is how does one measure the value of a brand ... and in the case of this article, how can we determine the value of brand Oscar Pistorius?

In part I, I clarified what makes sponsorship such a powerful marketing tool. Here, in part II, I will give some trends for 2013, taken from some best practice work in 2012, and I will explain how the South African industry needs to adapt and evolve in order to achieve success and results going forward. (video)

2012 was a revolutionary year for sponsorship and one that churned out some notable campaigns that have helped clarify what modern best practice sponsorship is all about (or at least what it should be about).

It's that time of the year where agencies are asked to haul out the old crystal ball and provide pearls of thumb-sucking wisdom. Before we do so, it would be wise to see how history might repeat itself. Reflecting briefly, for experiential marketing, 2012 was quite a year locally and abroad. Oh, and mazeltov on surviving the Mayan apocalypse - it was touch-and-go for a second there.

In 2012, brands asked some pertinent and challenging questions pertaining to influencer outreach and seeding their products. Insights gained both as a delegate and a speaker at a number of enlightening conferences over the past year have led me to the following observations about what brands want and how Africa's youth prefer to be communicated with - from a marketing and advertising perspective.

Radio has always baffled media futurologists, effortlessly bouncing back from perceived 'threats' such as recession right through to technological revolution - something consistently touted by 'radio assassins' as the next to bring about the demise of the medium. Bucking the trend, year-on-year growth as an industry remains at a steady increase and this demonstrates its enduring relevance.

I'm quite new to education, but completely immersed and have much to say. I thought I'd focus my crystal ball on a broad range of education industry issues, and wanted to avoid at all costs penning another "Have you heard about Khan Academy?" piece, (But now that that's done)...

How are P&G and Unilever differentiated? Does the Coca-Cola Company want to be known for obesity or health? Will supermarket brands be strengthened or weakened by their supply chains? The perfect storm of social media, continuing social unrest, concerns over the economy and environment will batter brands that are not resilient and adaptive, while shaking established ad agencies to their foundations.

Whenever I'm having a bad day, I remind myself of this: at least I'm not one of those people who used to wear a yellow Livestrong bracelet. Or worse, one of those diehards who still wear them (earlier today, while having lunch in a coffee shop in a Sandton shopping centre, I spotted a man wearing one. He was wearing a checked shirt and chinos, so he wasn't being an ironic hipster).

I am a little taken aback at Graeme Joffe's opinion piece on the MTN Radio Awards. This is the third year of the awards and the programme has shown significant growth over the three years. Winning an MTN Radio Award is an achievement of which most winners (with the possible exception of Joffers) are extremely proud.

I always find it amusing when a national furore is created by a sporting body's decision to source clothing and equipment overseas. Like our official sports confederation and Olympic Games body, SASCOC, did a few weeks ago when it announced that our Olympic Games kit would be supplied from China.

Often, when speaking to agency MDs and creative directors from many of the traditional flagships of South African advertising, the name of some specialist below-the-line agency would come up, and the conversation, flowing so easily around the currents of industry gossip but moments before, would grind to a halt. "I've never seen any of their work." And I would go, "But you have..."

To date, there are two brands in particular, Absolut and Nike, which have hit the ground running when it comes to going beyond a social media presence and influencer engagement, making it difficult for challenger brands to catch up and maintain the pace. A third brand, Carling Black Label, did phenomenally last year by focusing less on social media and more on influencers [video].

Significant milestones have been achieved in the past 10 years of working to transform the advertising profession, and these should be celebrated. However, it is agreed that South Africans now understand that transformation is a multidimensional process - getting the 'numbers' right in terms of equity is only but one step.

In days gone by, the university student was viewed as a dreamer. Their jovial and carefree existence was juxtaposed with real adult life of taxes, mortgages and in-laws. Until only recently, brands looked at them with a similar disdain. In recent times, though, businesses have been schooled that maybe it's time to take their studies into the student market a little more seriously.